The patient registry system, which allows doctors to go online and electronically sign up patients, is a crucial move in getting the medical marijuana program up and running, Commissioner Mary O’Dowd said.

"We tried to make the process as user-friendly as possible," said O’Dowd, who called the registry’s launch "a meaningful step in the commitment we have to getting this program up and running."

"Creating all of these systems was a little time consuming, but we believe we’ve provided a streamlined easy to use system for patients and physicians and something that will stand up to law enforcement scrutiny," she said.

With one dispensary on track to open by September, it means patients could be less than a month away from actually receiving the drug.

The patient registry website and the customer service telephone lines go live at 8 a.m. Thursday, O’Dowd said. After physicians register a patient, that patient will have 30 days to submit a photo, name the dispensary of their choice and produce other information required for an identification card. Patients will also be required to pay a $200 fee. Some qualifying patients, including those on Medicaid, will pay just $20.

The development comes more than 2 1/2 years after New Jersey’s Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act became law. Signed by Gov. Jon Corzine on his last day in office, the legislation granted access to the drug for some of the state’s sickest patients, including those with multiple sclerosis, terminal cancer and muscular dystrophy.

In March 2011, health department officials announced six planned dispensaries, but problems with disorganization, vetting dispensary officials and reluctant town officials have since delayed the program, The Star-Ledger found in a series of articles over the past year.

In November, Gov. Chris Christie appointed John O’Brien, a retired state trooper, to take over the initiative. O’Brien implemented rigorous background check procedures for employees involved with the centers. The move has tightened up regulation of the program but led to longer delays that have angered patients and dispensary officials.

The first of six dispensaries, Greenleaf Compassion Center of Montclair, is expected to open shortly after Labor Day.

At Greenleaf’s storefront on bustling Bloomfield Avenue today, CEO Joe Stevens showed off the group’s progress. Brown leather chairs were already set up in the waiting room. In a back room, workers figured out the plans for countertop space that will be used to dispense the different strains of marijuana.

In the spring, Stevens criticized the Christie administration for its sluggish progress with the medical marijuana program. Stevens said he was "foolish" to go forward with investing in the dispensary and "a failed program." In response, Christie suggested Stevens should just "stop complaining."

But at Greenleaf today, a framed photo of a smiling Christie was on the wall above the front check-in counter. Stevens and his colleague, Julio Valentin Jr., chuckled at the irony.

"I think it’s a great thing for the program," Stevens said of the patient registry. "It shows the department is moving forward."

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerJoe Stevens, chief executive officer, and Julio Valentin Jr. stand in the client waiting area at the Greenleaf Compassion Center, a medical marijuana dispensary on Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair.

Patients may register with Greenleaf and later switch to a different dispensary that’s closer to their home, O’Dowd said.

Only one other center, Compassionate Care Foundation of Egg Harbor, is likely to open by the end of the year, according to interviews with several dispensary officials. The group hasn’t been approved to start growing the crop yet, CEO Bill Thomas said today.

"We’re hoping in the next week or two we get a grow permit," said Thomas, who added they aim to open by the beginning of December.

State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), who was a sponsor of the medical marijuana law, said the health commissioner called him today to alert him to the patient registry’s launch.

"It’s great," Scutari said. "Although it’s taken a lot time, it’s a complex thing to do, Initially there was a lot of resistance, but the delays recently are not the result of resistance, I believe, I think it has just taken time."

Others had a more tempered reaction, saying optimism is low after so many delays.

"It looks like the program is stumbling on," said Ken Wolski, who heads up the Coalition for Medical Marijuana in New Jersey.

Patient advocates are concerned the low number of registered physicians, just about 150, represents only a fraction of the more than 30,000 doctors in the state, Wolski said.